Officials, voters experience voter fatigue as Senate primary looms

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WISCONSIN -- Voting in an historic election can come with a price. Some waited in line for hours Tuesday, June 5th to cast a ballot in Wisconsin's first-ever gubernatorial recall race. Wednesday, FOX6 News spoke with Milwaukee's Election Commission about why it took so long, and whether changes will be made in the future.

The wait to vote was so long in some places in Milwaukee Tuesday night that voters were still waiting to cast their ballot at 9:30 -- an hour-and-a-half after the polls had closed, and after the race had been called for Gov. Scott Walker.

"With the turnout and registration, it slowed things down at our polling sites and it was just a very busy day all the way around. We had an ample supply of ballots, but suddenly a lot of sites at the same time seemed to be running out," Milwaukee Election Commission Executive Director Sue Edman said.

Edman admitted she is looking into getting more manpower for future elections.

Edman wasn't the only one a little overwhelmed after Tuesday's recall election day, but unfortunately, there is no rest for the weary. The U.S. Senate primary election is just eight weeks away.

"I feel absolutely bad for all the candidates, Republicans and Democrats, running in those races simply because there is a little bit of election fatigue going on. Especially with the casual voter," political strategist Chris Hayworth said.

Hayworth said we will get a short break from the negative political ads, but they won't be gone for long.

"I think you take a little bit of a step back, talk about you, talk about your campaign," Hayworth said.

Edman said she's already received notification from the County that ballots orders are needed for the Senate primary in August.

Edman said the biggest problem Tuesday night was new voters who needed to register at polling sites, citing the number of new voters could be in the tens of thousands.